It might just look like a bunch of crazy straws, but it’s the latest craze: fiber optics.

“It’s going to be the standard feature,” said James Harrison, a senior business consultant at RCN, an Internet and cable provider that offers services through fiber-based networks.

The best part about the company is that it benefits Queens.

RCN was founded in 1996, offering services to medium and large carriers and enterprises in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic and Chicago metro area. Specifically in New York City, there are RCN offices throughout Queens and some parts of Manhattan.

Harrison said the company's purpose is to provide a true alternative carrier to other service providers by using fiber optics.

“With the way technology’s going, we’re starting to hit a point where DSL modems just aren’t cutting it,” said Harrison.

Unlike other technology choices, Hassan Yousaf, an engineering project manager with RCN, points out that fiber optics is the speed of choice, referencing the amount of data that can transfer per unit of time.

Fiber optics is the technology of choice according to the government's National Broadband Network (NBN). Promising to deliver speeds of up to 100 megabytes per second, Yousaf said fiber optics are thin lines of pure glass that carry digital information through light rays. As the white light travels through the glass center of the fiber, it helps provide a faster Internet connection.

Harrison points out that other competitors in the area supplying cable and Internet often have complications with their services. “We get complaints from a lot of business owners, saying that every time it rains, they have issues,” Harrison said. “You might call another provider, and they might come or they might not.”

According to Harrison and other staff, RCN focuses on personally reaching out to the community in a timely manner. “We demonstrate to our customers that we know where we came from and what we’re planning on doing in the future," he said. "We're trying to reach a lot more customers and trying to plan a better service.”

Harrison said Richard M. Richer, the chief financial officer of Big Beyser Inc., located at 57-65 48th Street in Maspeth, had been waiting approximately two years for his company to receive high-speed Internet from their local provider.

"We had been working with an alternate provider, and they just kept dropping the ball," Richer said. "RCN came through very quickly."

"We delivered it in two weeks, finally alleviating their company of the wait they had to endure," Harrison said.

With a goal of reaching as many locations in Queens in possible, Harrison said, "we shine best when it comes to reaching out to small businesses.”

I've had the pleasure of doing business with James Harrison, he's a stand-up guy who was very pleasant & most importantly patient with our companies high volume operation. I would recommend asking for him specifically if ever evaluating those services.